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Flirting With the Enemy

By; Sierra Sitruc

Email: ChristmasAngel87@hotmail.com

Chapter 13 Deadly Duel

Lily stumbled into her flat, only to find the living room empty and dark, was she too late? Lily was relieved of that thought when she heard screaming coming from Isabella's room. Lily held her wand steady and shakily rushed to the bedroom.

There, Isabella was in a duel with Antonin; and Mulciber was no where to be seen. Isabella caught sight of Lily. "LILY BEHIND YOU!" Isabella screamed and that distracted Antonin and Isabella cursed him, with magical ropes that tied him up.

Lily on the other hand, had reeled around in a hurry and found herself facing Mulciber. "Hello Mulciber." Lily said coldly, as she was pushed him into the hallway, away from Isabella. They stood a good distance away from each other, and had their wands at ready.

"Evans, I told you to go to Malfoy's." Mulciber said with a glare.

"I did. But I decided to pay you a visit instead." Lily said, anger taking hold of her, all the anger about her parents' deaths and James' being tortured and the horrid deal with Voldemort, Lily was in a rage…a deathly rage.

"Well Evans, I must excuse myself to kill your best friend." Mulciber said and made a move to get into the room where Isabella was.

"I don't think so, Mulciber if you want her dead- you have to kill me first." Lily said, and then she yelled into the room. "Isabella stay back! If I die- get out of here!"

Lily didn't hear an answer if there was one because she had to block a searing curse from Mulciber. She managed to make it not hit her directly, but her upper arm was hit with a black gash, burnt- like being hit with a hot iron pole that had been in the fire for hours and was turning orange.

Lily bit back the pain and yelled "Incendio!" Right to his robes, and it caught fire, he extinguished it, and they stood in battle stance staring each other in the eye.

"Glufinio!" Mulciber yelled, and Lily's feet were glued to the floor.

Lily then sent a powerful—pounding spell and Mulciber fell backwards, he glared at her enraged and jumped up quickly.

Mulciber sent a wind stealing spell at her, and Lily had the air sucked out of her lungs. Then Mulciber took advantage of it, and yelled, "Pinprickus!" And Lily suddenly felt like a thousand needles were prickling her skin, she managed to get her breath back.

Then they made their move at the same time.

"Expelliarmus!" They yelled, and both their wands went flying out of reach, now Lily was in trouble, because it was going to go into physical battle where Lily would surely lose.

Especially when Mulciber pulled out a muggle dagger, and leapt on top of Lily causing her to fall over and be pinned beneath him- a place of certain death, Lily struggled beneath him and all seemed hopeless. She was putting up quite a struggle, wriggling and kicking trying to get free. Her knees bent, at an angle because she couldn't move her feet.

Lily grabbed his wrist that had the dagger in its hand and pulled it away from her hand, it was a tough fight, but Lily had rage and anger on her side, and she in some miraculous way, got the dagger from him.

With out the dagger, Mulciber leapt up from her and backed into the wall, but Lily had stood up awkwardly right after him with a murderous look on her face.

"Evans, you wouldn't kill me, you've never killed anyone- not directly. You don't know what it's like to take away someone's life. To make them stop breathing and to become some lifeless body- you can't do it Evans." Mulciber said, with cold amusement in his voice.

Watching him closely, she saw him carefully go to their wands and pick them up, and handed her, her wand.

"I won't kill someone who can't fight back." She threw the dagger across the room behind her. He could never have an unfair fight, and she had a feeling this battle could only end in death, and she wanted to win it fair and square. As did he. She couldn't let the knife be in her way, so she tossed it and was probably going to regret it.

She was going to have to kill him. Oh well, self defense, right?

But Mulciber did something unexpected, "Accio Dagger!" HE cried and the dagger shot towards them across the room- right towards Lily, blade coming at her.

If Lily wanted to win, she was going to have to do something fast, to make him go down- the quickest way would be the Avada Kedavra Curse.

Lily thought about her parents, lying there in their bed- lifeless, about James' arm being crushed by the giant, about all the evil things she'd ever done and about the fact that if she didn't get rid of Mulciber right that, Isabella would die.

Lily sucked in her breath, and pulled all the courage she had, "Avada-," The look on Mulciber's face was a petrified look, full of fear, and Lily's was one of concentration. Then she said the last part of the curse. "Kedavra!" She yelled and green light shot out of her wand and hit Mulciber and he fell to the ground in an instant. At the same moment he fell, Lily felt a dagger plunge into her back. She cried out in pain, and fell to the floor, flat on her face. "Infinite Incantetum." She murmured and the strain of her feet stuck to the floor went away.

She felt the warm sticky blood seeping into her robes and pooling around her, This is it, I'm going to die- better then Azkaban I suppose. Lily thought, and her thoughts were surprisingly calm, she was happy to die, This is the best way to die, defending my best friend's life. Lily touched her back, and felt the knife- it was in her skin to the hilt, and surprisingly she was feeling no pain. When she pulled her hands back she saw they were covered in the blood.

She was strangely aware of her surroundings all of a sudden, and heard someone cry out- Isabella, and walk over to her and kneel down.

"LILY! LILY!" Isabella sobbed, as she touched her fallen friend.

"I'm still alive Isabella." Lily said calmly, like she was just saying, 'It's raining outside today.'

"Lily!? Oh my God, what do I do?!" Isabella asked no one, but Lily answered.

"Let me die in peace." Lily moaned- she was suddenly in a lot of pain, and she got the feeling Isabella was touching the dagger.

"Lils, I'm going to take it out, okay?" Isabella asked gently.

"No! Keep it there! Leave me alone!" Lily muttered. "Take care of Antonin- take him to the Ministry."

"I already sent him- through floo powder." Isabella said softly, and Lily jolted as she felt Isabella take hold of the Dagger and pull it out.

"OUCH!" Lily screamed, and hit the palm of her hand on the floor in pain. Lily heard cloth tearing and then she felt Isabella shove the cloth into her wound and then Isabella left in a hurry and brought water back and some soap and using her wand tore Lily's robes so she could clean it.

"I don't know if you should be the one to heal me- weren't you the one who botched up the medi-wizard-"

"Shut up Lily- I'm helping you." Isabella said confidently, but her voice didn't have the assurance Lily wanted.

For about 10 minutes she just tended to the wounds, and after casting a sealing charm, Lily was just fine, except for the amount of lost blood had made her tired. Lily was able to sit up, and she went to change into clean robes. Looking at her room. Which she hadn't seen for almost two weeks. She took in the furniture and all the personal things…

When she came back to where Isabella was sitting in the living room- that's when it hit her, she'd just killed someone with one of the Unforgivable Curses- they could track her down!

"ISBELLA!" Lily shrieked, "The Ministry's going to be here any second! They can trace Unforgivable Curses, and I used one on Mulciber!"

Isabella leapt of the sofa, and went into action. "All right this is what we do…blow up the house!"

"What!?" Lily choked.

"Yes, I mean no one is in the area its just you and me here, we blow it up, make it look like I'm dead so Voldemort won't come after me and I'll get help from the ministry and you can go into hiding wherever…you can't go back to the Death Eaters- you just killed one of your own and you can't go to the ministry for help because they'll send you to Azkaban, and I didn't just save your life to get you fucking killed in there!" Isabella hissed, "Go pack some clothes Lils." She ordered, and her voice frightened Lily so much, that she did it, they came out both with a small bag of belongings, and ran out the back door standing a small distance from the house.

"What was the exploding spell again?" Lily said, jumping from foot to foot in anxiety.

"Wasn't it- Detonious?" Isabella asked.

"Yes, that's it! Quick we'll do it together on the count of three. 1….2….3"

"DETONIOUS!" The two women yelled together, and the house exploded, and they had to run to escape the flames that were engulfing the small house tripping slightly from the power of the spell. The light rain fall doing nothing to put out the fire.

"Wow that was awesome!" Isabella said in awe as they stood back behind the shed by their house.

"Yes, there's no turning back now Isabella you're in this situation with me now, and you can't escape. Now we are both on the run, you understand that right?" Lily asked.

"Yes Lily, I'd do anything for you." Isabella said positive of it.

"I just…this is all my fault, if I had just let him kill me back then…I shouldn't have given in…You would really do anything for me?"

"Yes, you ARE my best friend." Isabella said.

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but best friends don't get their other best friend killed." Lily said, "Isabella you need to apparate to the Ministry."

"But—can't I at least…" Lily started thinking fast, she needed to do something so Isabella wouldn't go wandering into trouble…Hopefully the Aurors will look over here… "I NEED to go with you, if I don't-!"

"Isabella Patil, you cannot COME don't get any ideas." Lily said flatly. "Just go into hiding where you'll be safe- and don't forget to say you never saw me."

"B-but LILY-." Isabella was looking defiant, like the time right before she left the Ministry prison cell where Lily had been. "At least let me know you are somewhere safe! I know a good muggle apartment complex…you can go there!"

"Well, that's nice of you…But I'm going to turn myself into the Ministry, I deserve to be punished!" Lily said angrily.

"No you don't Lily! You're a good person! You just got into some deep shit is all! Don't turn yourself into that fucked up ministry!" Isabella screeched, clenching her fists in anger.

"I *have* to Isabella, you have to understand! They won't go after you if I'm there! You can be happy to live your life however you want and have kids and watch Patrick's kids get older too!" Lily tried to persuade her.

"Lily, I've always been there for you and I always will be; remember all those times you've helped *me*? I need to repay you! Remember when I got into money problems?" Lily nodded, "And *you* helped me, you combined our pay checks and let me live with you! You'd always dreamed of living on your own and you let me live with you anyway! And remember that time in fifth year when Severus Snape was picking on me and you tackled him? After that I swear he liked you!" Lily smiled at that memory, "Or…Remember that time you saved me from Mulciber? You risked your life for me to do that! Then I saved yours so we're even—don't be getting any ideas." Lily smirked, but continued to listen to Isabella's little rant. "We're always there for each other, and if I can't be with you, how am I supposed to watch over you like you have for me all these years?" Isabella demanded.

"Listen, Isabella you don't know what its like—Voldemort can track me!" Isabella flinched at the name, "He'll find me soon, and I have to turn myself in to the Ministry or I have a worse fate than Azkaban on me!" Lily told her firmly, but Isabella didn't waver.

"No, you can't please—let me go with you! I'll follow you if I have to!" Isabella yelled, stomping her foot like a three year old.

Lily knew what she had to do.

"Isabella, please forgive me for what I am about to do. I'm not going to let you run into a Death Eater- not counting me." Lily tried not to let her voice crack. "Stupefy!" Isabella fell to the ground, Well Lily, it seems you get more and more cold hearted every minute Lily told herself, and leaving Isabella out cold on the ground, Lily took off on her path, and hoped some one found Isabella soon. Ignoring the mud, which was all over the area where Lily's house was, she took off at a quick speed and didn't look back.

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James decided that if he was going to have any clue as to where Lily would go- he was going to have to visit her flat, and since he didn't know that it was blown up he apparated there, and was shocked to see that nothing was left.

"My God." James muttered, as he looked around. It was bad- all charred and only a black layer or rubble was left. "It looks like an extra strong exploding charm was put on this place- probably was." James laughed bitterly to him self; he didn't know Isabella, but just the fact that she was Lily's friend, made him feel sorry for her.

James walked around the rubble, and looked at the back yard- he saw a small shed in the back near the woods, and as he walked towards it he noticed foot prints, two pair, and feminine looking headed out near it, they only started by the shed, and they seemed to stumble like they'd been hit. Running from an explosion? He wondered.

Why hadn't the ministry noticed this? He asked himself, and he decided to explore these foot prints. Maybe it would lead him to Isabella's killers…

Voldemort sat, leaning back in his comfortable chair by a roaring fire, when one of his Death Eaters knocked on the door, "Come in." He hissed.

It was Lucius Malfoy.

"Malfoy, come in lad- how is that mudblood Evans doing?" He asked, amused at what he'd done to the little brat.

"She escaped- she got out of Mulciber's Imperial Curse and ran to Patil's house and saved her friend, in the process- s-she killed Mulciber and Dolohov was caught." Lucius was nervous and shaking badly at what Voldemort might do to HIM in anger.

But surprisingly, Voldemort only seemed amused, because he chuckled to himself, and mumbled, "She finally killed someone, I'm shocked." He stopped laughing, "But that means she did go back on her word- it isn't very loyal if you go about killing your fellow Death Eater is it?" Voldemort didn't wait for an answer, "No, she must pay- and since she went back on her part of the deal, I'm going back on mine. Besides, Evans must have forgotten, I can track her- and Potter won't be hard to find."

Voldemort walked over to a table, and looked over a magical map of England; which he had bought especially for Lily. He picked up his wand and muttered, "Identifius Lily Evans!" He snorted with laughter. "She won't get far, the little pesky thing, never learned to apparate or do any transportation spells. She's about five miles from her home; it seems she's been running, she'll have to rest soon. She's been sick and after a duel with Mulciber, one of our best- she'll be sure to rest." Voldemort said, not noticing his strange, demented little rhyme.

Lucius only nodded, and watched the map.

"Now, for Potter- Identifius James Potter!" Voldemort laughed even more as he looked at the map. "Merlin's beard, he's right on her trail. This is too easy…"

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(A/N Remember, time is changing around a bit, not everything is happening right after another, okay? This is originally where I left off, so be happy, this *should* be chapter 14)

Lily hadn't been walking for long when she noticed that if she moved her back just the right way- it stung. Apparently, Isabella's skills in healing still weren't very good--still. Maybe she shouldn't have…what if Lily had damaged organs or something? That dagger had been a good length and could probably do quite a bit of damage to her insides, and while Isabella would have meant well, she might have just made it worse…

Lily had been walking for about an hour when the pain started and it continued and she didn't have any *more* trouble, until late afternoon. She was trying to think of where to go- she could just live in the woods for the rest of her life, but she knew the Voldemort would eventually find her- he always did.

She thought that it would be better to get to the Ministry and turn herself in and get sent to Azkaban to die- but then again her death would be quicker if she went to Voldemort…

Lily laughed to herself, as she walked quickly across and open field, here she was contemplating which death would be better.

It seemed that Azkaban; at least she would be doing James a…strange sort of favor. Also that way Voldemort wouldn't have *won*, if you could say that. I mean really, winning wouldn't be killing one of his *own* would it? Lily pondered over this some more. She figured that her death would be much more….gruesome if she went and somehow had Voldemort get her.

But if she had an Auror or Hit Wizard get her and she didn't fight, she would be bound up magically, and then sent off to the Dementors…At the thought of Dementors, Lily was reminded of her last Death Eater meeting- well what had almost been one. They'd been talking about Dementors and an attack…Lily hadn't been paying attention much, and with all the stress from the week she wasn't thinking clearly- and she was dead tired.

She finally came to the conclusion that she would rather turn her self into the Ministry, but something was holding her back- the fact that she might have to do neither, she could simply hide in the muggle world. Change her name to something like Jane Williams, which was a very common name as it was. She could do charms everyday to hide her appearance. It could work…But Lily really didn't like the idea of hiding all the time, she didn't know if she could withstand living a lie for the rest of her life.

No she decided, she would find a Wizard's house and give them her wand and have them take her to the Ministry, she'd been having a lot of those moments when she wanted to apparate lately and the pain in her back wasn't helping.

She was in a nice muggle forest, nothing unusual about it and much thinner then the one she'd gone through with James and that was a good thing. She didn't want to run into any- creatures, like last time. Lily shivered at the memory, she'd been trying very hard not to think about any of *that* little adventure- or anything related to that entire trip. She really just wished someone would Obliviate the whole week away from her.

Lily was getting really tired- she hadn't slept for…at least 24 hours, and since the sun was going to be setting soon, she might as well take a break and enjoy her rest- but she didn't know exactly where she could sleep. Muggles would more then likely be hanging around somewhere…and what would she tell them? ("Um, yes I just happened to get lost in the woods, don't worry about me. Please leave.") THAT idea certainly wouldn't work.

Ow! Lily screamed inside her head, there was pain all through out her stomach- and it felt swollen. If this kept up, she was going to have to see a doctor or someone.

Lily rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake, she had lost speed-she'd been traveling since before the sun was up, and her feet were hardly moving. Lily felt very fatigued so she picked up her wand and tried to cast a comforting spell on a patch of ground so she could sleep, but she failed. She couldn't concentrate. Whenever she tried, her eyes got black spots in front of them and she felt sick.

Finally, she gave up, and just flopped down on a piece of ground close to a humongous tree and fell asleep in seconds.

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~Earlier that day~

James followed the foot steps, and he hadn't gotten that far when he came upon a body of a woman with dark blonde hair, lying there looking as if she were asleep. Ack! They didn't dispose of the body!? James thought with horror, as he eyed Isabella Patil lying on the ground.

He moved closer, and checked to see that this was where the foot prints led to, and that another pair went off in the distance—that's when he saw it. Isabella was breathing.

"Isabella?!" James choked out. Thinking he was seeing things. This woman was supposed to be dead.

James looked closer—she looked perfectly fine. That's when it clicked in his head. The other set of foot prints were Lily's. Lily had obviously gotten here…to do something—Maybe Lily had run here to save her friend from being blown up and—James stopped thinking for a moment, he could just ask Isabella.

"Enervate." James muttered at Isabella, whose eyes fluttered open. "Isabella, are you okay?"

"Lily?!" Isabella cried out, whirling around looking for her friend. Then her eyes turned on James with anger. "Where is she!?"

"I was going to ask you that." James replied coolly.

"I don't know. She stupefied me and left." Isabella snapped at the Auror.

"So Lily *was* here then?" James confirmed, and Isabella nodded. "Why?"

"She…she." Isabella contemplated whether or not to tell him about Lily and with a sigh decided she'd better. "To start off, I was at home- minding my own business. Worried about my best-friend's life and wondering what the Hell was going on out in the world; when two Death Eaters Apparate into my house, ready to kill me." Isabella paused to take a breath. "I ran away and was cornered in my bedroom and Antonin Dolohov starts a duel with me, while Michael Mulciber watches." Isabella shuddered.

"I always knew they were Death Eaters—wait a second, Dolohov was captured, where's Mulciber? Did he escape?" James interrupted.

"Wait, I'm getting to that." Isabella told him. "I could easily when over Dolohov, but I couldn't take on Mulciber, and I knew I was in for it." Isabella hurried on to the next part. "I was starting to win, when we all heard a crash from the living room and Mulciber left the room."

"Lily." James breathed.

"Yes, Lily came to my rescue—I'm not too sure what has been going on. She didn't say much, but anyway she comes into the room and to make it short ends up in a duel with Mulciber—which she wins, and she made a run for it." Isabella looked at the ground. "She stunned me after I started chasing her, and Mulciber accidentally blew up the house with himself inside it while we were running." Isabella looked up at him.

"Really?" James asked uncertainly.

Isabella didn't meet his eye. "Yes, she ran for it before we could hardly talk. I don't know which way she went or where she might be going."

"Well, she obviously went that way." James pointed to her tracks. "You should get to the ministry; you need to be safe." James instructed and Isabella's eyes panicked.

"Um—don't you need help to go after a Death Eater—and highly wanted one at that!?" Isabella demanded, standing up to face him.

"Yes, but I know that Lily is harmless—sort of." James told her.

"She ki-she dueled someone and won." Isabella dissuaded.

"She murdered Mulciber, I know- you don't have to lie." James told her, with an exasperated sigh and Isabella was horrified.

"Don't tell anyone please, please, please? I don't want Lily to go to Azkaban! She doesn't deserve it! She just saved me, doesn't that count for something?!" Isabella cried out, tugging on James' robes.


"I'm sorry, but I have to report all the facts. Just—go back to the Ministry Headquarters. Voldemort obviously is after you, and you need to go into hiding." Isabella looked infuriated at this.


"I CAN'T go into hiding now! Lily needs me!"

"LILY is running from the Ministry AND Voldemort. I hardly believe she'll want you in this mess too." James told her, his anger showing in his words. What he was mad about, he wasn't sure.

"Since when do you know Lily so well?" Don't those words feel familiar? James thought to himself.

"I spent quite a bit of time with her, for your information." James replied.

"All that time, and you still don't' see what a good person she is?" Isabella demanded.


"She might *have* been a good person but she isn't anymore." James told her gravely, and Isabella smacked him one. James groaned and covered his cheek, "Just get to the Ministry, before I do something I'll regret."

Isabella was staring at her hand in shock at what she'd done, and quickly pulled out her wand, and apparated with a small 'pop'. It was a bit…illegal to provoke an Auror.

James sighed, relieved that she was gone. He wondered how Lily put up with her. Such…attitude that woman had…

James turned his thoughts to the business at hand—the foot print following, so they were obviously Lily's and he'd better catch up to her before something happens to her.

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Isabella found her self in the midst of a group of people, all sobbing and crying. That's when she saw her twin brother and his fiancé standing there; Patrick was restraining tears.

(A/N I don't remember if I gave his fiancé and name already, sorry if I did! I don't feel like looking through all the pages…Or was he already married? They are Paravati and Padma's parents btw)

Pandora looked up and saw Isabella standing there, looking a bit muddy from lying on the ground for hours. Her eyes widened and she managed to squeak, "Isabella!?" Before passing out cold in Patrick's arms.

"Pandora?! Are you okay honey?" Patrick asked his unconscious fiancé as he set her down on a chair; holding her up. Isabella came up behind him.

"Who died?" Isabella asked worriedly—that's when it hit her, they though *she* was dead. "Because, I sure as hell know it's not me."

Patrick turned around in a flash and his fiancé fell to the floor with a thud. "Isabella!?" Patrick yelled in shock.

"Yeah?" Isabella asked uncertainly.

"Is it really you?"

"Yep!" Isabella hugged her brother and he swung her around crying-

"She's alive! She's alive!"

"I'm not Jesus Christ, but yes I am alive." Isabella muttered happily, and soon everyone around her was hugging her—a lot of family members, including her parents who hugged her a bit *too* enthusiastically.

"Isabella—how are you alive?" Patrick asked once things had calmed down, and everyone looked toward her expectantly, including the few Ministry officials who had told them she was dead.

Now what was she supposed to tell them?!

"Well, I was in fact attacked by Death Eaters, Antonin Dolohov and Michael Mulciber. They came to my house to kill me…Not all too sure why, but it had something to do with Lily." A few people looked uncomfortable at the mention of her best-friend. "Anyway, I was dueling Dolohov, with Mulciber watching like it was some sort of…Quidditch Match, when we hear a thump from the living room—I knew immediately who it was." She drew her breath dramatically. "Lily was there to rescue me." A few people looked at her questionably. "I managed to control Dolohov and Lily told me to stay in the bedroom, and I was glad we had a fire place in the bedroom because I sent him to the ministry by floo powder."

"That's my girl!" Her father said, still looking a bit shaken by her near death experience, when he wasn't even the one to experience it.

"Lily took on Mulciber in a duel, duel—like only one survivor, and I knew I couldn't fight him and win…Lily's always been better at fighting. She killed him, but almost died her self in the process…" Isabella paused to figure out what to say next—she was going to lie, but tell the truth all at the same time. "We blew up the house so Voldemort will think I'm dead…then I wanted to go with her, but when she refused and I kept insisting…she just stupefied me and ran for it." Isabella sighed. "Either way I'll probably have to go into hiding." Isabella grumbled about that for a moment. Isabella winced to her self…

Okay. So maybe the whole truth came out.

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Late that afternoon, after James had been walking along a path, for who knows how long; he came upon what he'd been running after all day. There, sleeping practically flat on her face, with her red hair all over the place; was the worn out figure of Lily Evans, asleep next to a large tree.

He stared at her for a few minutes, just taking her in. James could tell she was exhausted, just by the look on her pale face. She looked really frail and weak. Dueling, running, and Voldemort just don't mix well. James, now that he saw her there, didn't know if he could take her back to the Dementors again.

James knew he cared about her, but he wasn't sure as to what extent. Now he was going to try and figure out how to wake her up first. He suddenly wished he didn't have to wake her up—then he reminded himself of all that she'd done to him—the bad things and knew he had to go with the law and return her to the Ministry.

Knowing that he could trust her, he kneeled beside her and rolled her over. He received a painful groan from her, but she didn't wake up.

"Evans," James whispered, holding his wand out—just in case. "Lilllllly." James said louder, and this time her eyes fluttered open.

"James?" She croaked out, "Oh! Shit!" She muttered holding her head and squinting her eyes. "Stop moving around it's giving me a headache!"

"Huh? I'm not moving." James told her wondering if she was acting. "Get up; I need to take you back to the Ministry."

"Oh." Lily didn't seem to register what he'd just said. She tried to sit up, but her face turned green and she sat back down. "Give me a sec." She said hoarsely, as she tried to calm her queasiness. James stood posed above her ready for anything 'funny'.

"So, what exactly happened to you?" James inquired.

"Oh not too much if you really want to know, my parents died, my best friend was almost murdered, I got in a duel killed a man and was stabbed in the back—literally."

"WHAT?!" James said, not bothering to hide his outrage.

"Yup, and now even though Isabella tried to help me out a bit with the wound, there's still something wrong and it hurts like Hell!" Lily moaned holding her stomach where the pain had spread to.

James looked at her calculatingly, trying to think of what was wrong with her—could it be possible side effects of the Wizard Flu? James had thought she'd be fine by now.

James began to think of what kinds of side effects could happen…then he had a good idea as to what was wrong. "Evans, lift up your shirt so I can see your stomach." He ordered, and Lily looked at him like he had just sprouted antlers.

"Huh?" Lily whimpered, closing her eyes and drifting off back into sleep.

"Evans!" Lily's eyes opened wearily. "Okay, stay awake…" James muttered, keeping his wand in hand, he kneeled down again. "Give me your wand."

Lily fumbled around blindly and pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to him.

"Thanks for your cooperation." If Lily hadn't been so tired and weak, she would have rolled her eyes at him. He pocketed her wand, and proceeded to awkwardly lift up her shirt to look at her stomach. "This is strictly professional, okay?"

"Right." Lily agreed weakly.

Her head was spinning, and the black spots in front of her eyes wouldn't go away. She could hardly feel James' hands as they ran over her stomach. She closed her eyes; she just wanted to rest…to sleep. "Evans, don't fall asleep!" James told her sharply, and her eyes flew open.

"Are you done yet?" Lily asked impatiently.

"Yeah." James said, removing his hand reluctantly.

"Good. Can I sleep now?"

"Nope, you need to get up so you can get to the Ministry." James told her, "But before we do that I should tell you that you most likely have internal bleeding, it seems like it anyway. The wound wasn't fixed well enough."

"I can see that, Isabella was always horrible at healing." Lily told him halfheartedly. Suddenly, Lily had a coughing attack and blood came out on her hands, and she wiped them off on her robes.

"Well, all we need now is the vomiting, and you will have almost all the symptoms there are of internal bleeding." James said. "I'll make sure you get a potion to cure it once we get to the Ministry."

"Mm kay." Lily replied, her voice still scratchy from coughing so much. "L-lets go."

He gave her a hand up and they struggled along; he trusted her too much and knew she was too weak to run away; to actually tie her up or something.

They went walking towards Lily's blown up home, and they had been walking in complete silence when several 'pops' rang out around them. James froze in fear, and swore under his breath. He prayed he was wrong, and that the apparating sounds were from Aurors and not Death Eaters…

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Chapter 14--